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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23714431">What Kind of Man (Loves Like This)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplecountrywitchboy/pseuds/simplecountrywitchboy'>simplecountrywitchboy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Canon Compliant, Canon Gay Relationship, Domestic Boyfriends, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, In Character, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, post-GPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:28:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,100</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23714431</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplecountrywitchboy/pseuds/simplecountrywitchboy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Set on a morning in the month after Season 1’s Grand Prix Final. Yuri has moved in with Victor in St. Petersburg and the pair are getting settled and domestic, but training awaits. Naturally, there are questions surrounding the new Victuri dynamic with Victor as coach AND competitor. Are these two crazy? Maybe. </p><p>Inspired by the idea that even someone close to Victor would be like, “hey, what the hell?” Because—you know—angst.</p><p>(I personally know that these boys are very complicated and in love and their goals are aligned in the most beautiful way—but skeptics and anxiety disorders are no joke, also.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>98</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What Kind of Man (Loves Like This)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Title from the Florence and the Machine song</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was another bright morning as rays of white sunlight shone in through the tall, cold windows of the master bedroom, illuminating the room evenly and giving Yuri the small wave of energy needed to open his eyes. He reached for Victor’s side of the bed, finding it empty. Disappointed, he touched the crumpled indent of the sheets where Victor had lain. Still warm.</p><p>Yuri tossed the covers off and groped for his glasses on the bedside table, managing to find them without knocking them to the floor. He put them on and scoffed at how dirty they were. His new habit of making out with his fiancé made him need to clean his glasses more often, but the smudges weren’t entirely annoying; they served as a regular reminder of the thrilling developments in his life. He rubbed the lenses hastily on his t-shirt, vowing to clean them properly later.</p><p>Satisfied that he could see clearly enough, he slid on the pajama pants and sweatshirt that sat on the floor by the bed, then found the socks he’d discarded in the middle of the night, then the slippers. Victor abided by the no-shoes custom in his pristine flat, but the gleaming hardwood and tile floors were slippery in a way that Yuri wasn’t prepared for first thing in the morning, despite his profession.</p><p>Truth be told, it was hardly first thing in the morning. The giant Roman numerals on the chrome and white wall clock read nine-thirty. Since moving in after Japanese Nationals, Victor had treated the week of Orthodox Christmas as a sort of honeymoon. He’d been letting Yuri sleep as long as he liked, waking him with breakfast and heaps of affection, taking him sight-seeing and dining his lover at his favorite spots. It was a dream. The only thing that made Yuri suspect the life he now lived was real was that he honestly could not have imagined something so good for himself.</p><p>Victor was in the kitchen, his lean, masculine frame looking rather small and far away in his modern, open-concept kitchen under the tall ceiling. He was standing behind the large kitchen island as he chopped vegetables to toss in with the eggs on the stove. The spices smelled heavenly. Victor looked up and his pale blue eyes twinkled when he spotted Yuri, who rubbed his own puffy eyes, glasses askew, unassuming in oversized pajamas.</p><p>“Coffee?” Victor asked cheerfully.</p><p>“Hai,” Yuri said with a nod, perhaps too eagerly, he thought. But Victor seemed happy to comply in haste. He had made a fresh batch and tilted the French press into a clean white mug that was already sitting out next to the one he’d been sipping from himself. Victor doctored the beverage to Yuri’s liking and walked around the island to hand Yuri the mug. Victor cleared the bangs from Yuri’s brow with his fingertips and planted a kiss. “Good morning.”</p><p>“Smells good,” Yuri said, taking a cautious sip of his hot coffee and glancing at the stove.</p><p>“It’ll be ready soon,” Victor replied, striding back over to check on breakfast.</p><p>“Are we going to the rink today?” Yuri asked. He knew Victor had been prolonging their “settling in” time, and thought that with the majority of the Russian team heading to the European Championships this morning, it would be an ideal time for them to get back to work. Yuri had grown accustomed to having more-or-less private training time with Victor and was apprehensive at the thought of practicing with the rest of the Russians. It would be nice to ease into it, at least.</p><p>“I thought so, yes,” Victor said, dishing the meal onto two plates and coming to sit on a stool at the other end of the island next to Yuri. “We’ll have the place mostly to ourselves.”</p><p>Without the threat of hazing, harsh criticism, and mild verbal and physical abuse from a certain ornery teenager looming over his day, Yuri’s mind drifted to what he and Victor might work on. His thoughts bounced between the hints Victor had given about his own upcoming programs and the technicalities Yuri hoped to smooth out in “Eros” and “Yuri on Ice” in preparation for Four Continents. </p><p>Yuri had won gold at Japanese Nationals a few weeks before, but—to his shame and Victor’s mild disappointment—he had phoned it in. Beloved as he was by his Japanese fans, he felt cruel competing against his teammates, who scored at most 20 points lower than him in each program, but still congratulated and adored him for it. Yuri knew he should have tried harder, but at the time he couldn’t find it in himself to do so.</p><p>He adamantly refused to let Victor kiss that medal.</p><p>Victor had skipped Russian Nationals to coach Yuri that same weekend. How like Victor it was to announce that he would time his comeback with Russian Nationals without consulting a calendar first.</p><p>“I’m not used to considering someone else in my plans,” Victor had explained to an exasperated Yuri, who had tried to persuade the Russian to compete with his team and redeem himself in the eyes of the RSU. Victor had adamantly refused. “And miss you winning your first gold medal with me as your coach? I wouldn’t dream of it.”</p><p>“It’ll be a joke,” Yuri had retorted. “Or I’ll fall apart over something and miss the podium and it’ll be a really, really sad joke.”</p><p>“Nonsense,” Victor had said jovially. “Just have fun with it. You won’t have any pressure on you, so why worry?”</p><p>-</p><p>“We should call Chris,” Victor said when they were finishing breakfast, interrupting Yuri’s memory. </p><p>“Yeah,” Yuri said, starting to feel a little more awake with food in his belly. “Do you think he’s left for Euros?”</p><p>“He said he’s leaving tonight,” Victor replied, setting his phone in landscape and clicking Chris’s name in his contacts. The Swissman didn’t take long to pick up, and waved enthusiastically.</p><p>“Hi Chris! Hi Gabe!” Victor said. Chris’s boyfriend was in the background, donning a coat. </p><p>“I’m off to work. Hello...goodbye!” Gabe said cheerily, peering around Chris’s head to wave.</p><p>Freienbach, Switzerland was an hour behind St. Petersburg, Yuri recalled. </p><p>“I can’t believe you won’t be there,” Chris exclaimed to Victor with an exaggerated eye-roll. “After all this talk of coming back!”</p><p>Victor laughed. “You know I sometimes speak before I think.”</p><p>“Why do I ever listen to you,” Chris asked with a laugh and shake of his golden head. “I hope you’re at least enjoying yourself,” he said with a teasing glance at Yuri, who tried to smile.</p><p>“You could say that,” Victor said smoothly, looking sidelong at Yuri. “We’ve been having...perhaps too good a time. It’s back to work today.”</p><p>“Have you not been on the ice recently?” Chris asked with an eyebrow raised, his disapproval plain.</p><p>“We have, here and there,” Victor replied with a wave of his hand. “But just to stay tuned up. With the dark clouds on a plane to the Czech Republic, it’s the perfect day to christen the club with some real training.”</p><p>“Uh huh.” Chris’s eye seemed to compulsively wink. Yuri felt the flush creep into his cheeks. The innuendo felt like a bit much sometimes, but he couldn’t deny the thrill of it, especially with these two.</p><p>“Well, I wish you luck,” Chris said diplomatically. “And I can’t wait to see the programs at World’s.”</p><p>“Wait, no!” Victor chortled. “We’re calling to wish you luck.”</p><p>Chris laughed. “I’ll be fine—just bored without you there, once again.”</p><p>Victor shrugged apologetically, but there was nothing sorry about the smile on his face as he put an arm around Yuri’s waist below the camera and squeezed him close. “Some things can’t be helped,” he said lightly.</p><p>Yuri had the sudden urge to apologize to Chris, but wasn’t sure how to make it light-hearted, so held his tongue.</p><p>“For one, my costumes haven’t even shipped,” Victor explained, diverting negative attention away from Yuri. “And the programs aren’t perfect yet. I’m going to rework some of the choreography.”</p><p>“While coaching this one?” Chris nodded at Yuri. “What’s your game, hm? Who are you setting up for gold?”</p><p>“Both of us!” Victor replied without missing a beat. He got this exact question all the time from reporters and fans, but Yuri felt it had a different tone coming from a friend. “It’ll be very interesting to see who gets it.”</p><p>Chris scoffed. “Nice words.” Though Chris’s tone was good-natured, Yuri was starting to wonder where the line between teasing and calling out lay between them. He had only ever had small, friendly interactions with Chris at competitions, and for all he knew about Victor at this point, he still sometimes felt like it wasn’t much, especially when it came to his personal relations.</p><p>“You know, I have to wonder, Victor,” Chris continued, “if you’ve really thought this through.”</p><p>Yuri chanced a look up at his partner. Part of him was certainly wondering the same thing.</p><p>Yuri thought he saw something dark cross Victor’s features, but before he could be sure, Victor’s expression was once again placidly cheerful. “I actually have, if you can believe it,” he said lightly. Sitting next to him, though, and feeling the energy coming off of the older man, Yuri likened him to nocked arrow; Victor had no intent of initiating fire, but he was resting at the ready.</p><p>“You’ll forgive me,” Chris said, “it’s just bit much, you know? Everything you’re doing. The optics are just all over the place. Some love it, some think it’s batshit insane and a sign that you’ve lost it. But, you’ve certainly got everybody watching.”</p><p>Yuri realized with those words that a small pit had been growing in his stomach since Chris’s usual complaint about not getting to compete against Victor. The elephant in the room—the “it” Chris was referring to—was, of course, Yuri himself and his very close, very public entanglement with the five-time world champion. Yuri simply stared at the edge of the phone, unable to look directly at Chris’s face. He felt Victor lean close to his ear and whisper, “excuse me a moment.” Yuri nodded.</p><p>-</p><p>Victor took his phone down the hall into the bedroom and propped the door closed behind him. “What are you doing?” He asked Chris calmly.</p><p>Chris shrugged and pursed his lips. “I know how you get sometimes,” he said. “If you’re doing this to keep surprising people or something—“</p><p>“What?” Victor asked, raising his eyebrows.</p><p>“Okay,” Chris said, holding both hands up and peering at Victor seriously. “Hear me out.”</p><p>“Where is this coming from?” Victor laughed. “Are you that hurt that I won’t be wiping the ice with you this week?”</p><p>“It is a letdown,” Chris admitted with a sad smile. “I know you’re very invested in what you’re doing right now, but I’d like to remind you of some things.”</p><p>“Oh, well!” Victor huffed, then made a show of inspecting his cuticles. “Go on, then.”</p><p>Chris sighed. “You were on top of everything at World’s last year. After raising the bar for so long, you couldn’t have been flying higher. Thousands, if not millions, of hearts were beating just for you. Girls in Russia and across the world fell asleep gazing at your image on their bedroom walls—“</p><p>“Did you count yourself among them?” Victor interrupted.</p><p>“—while every professional in the figure skating industry worshipped the ice under your blades,” Chris continued. “Yes, myself among them. I know this isn’t lost on you. You had, year after year, gold medal after gold medal, one breathtaking, impossibly strong performance after another, transformed the skating world forever.”</p><p>“Wow,” Victor cooed, hand to his cheek. “Do go on...”</p><p>“Now that I have your attention, you may recall the world going silent, holding its breath, asking itself the question it knew to be impossible to answer until you made your next move.”</p><p>“How exciting~” Victor smiled.</p><p>“There were a couple of options. Would he retire? That would have been pretty anticlimactic and—you know—a global letdown. But could he keep winning at his age if he continued skating competitively? Nobody wanted to see you fall from grace, slowly and sadly, unable to keep up with the youngsters or injuring yourself in the process. But I want to say, for myself, I knew that none of the standard options would apply, and something altogether unexpected was about to happen. There would be nothing sad or predictable for Victor Nikiforov.</p><p>“So when news hit that you’d abandoned Russia and Yakov and competition for Yuri Katsuki—“ Chris broke off and shook his mop of blonde hair, his shoulders heaving with suppressed laughter. “It was delightful. Honestly, after all that pining like a lovesick puppy...”</p><p>“I have a tender heart, what can I say?” Victor commented flippantly. It wasn’t clear to him where this was going anymore.</p><p>Chris looked up, his brows furrowed slightly. “It was also infuriating, Victor.”</p><p>Victor was quiet. From his many years of practice with the media, he knew better than to react right away when being confronted. He would gain a better idea of the full picture before responding. After all, his friend wanted him to listen...</p><p>Chris back-pedaled. “I get it, sure, I mean…” Chris gestured to the other room. “He’s him. It’s just…”</p><p>“What is it, Chris?” Victor asked, hoping he could center the floundering man. It was odd. Their conversations never turned this serious. </p><p>Chris leaned forward in his armchair and continued earnestly, “You have so much more to give—of yourself—to everyone, not just to him.”</p><p>“And I’m preparing to give it at World’s,” Victor said, pitching his tone to indicate there was no problem. “I’m not dying.”</p><p>“I just hope that with all your work coaching Yuri, you have enough left to put into yourself.”</p><p>“I think you underestimate me,” Victor retorted cheerfully. He wanted to take his friend’s concern seriously—but, ultimately, Victor wasn’t interested in continuing down this road for what he felt like would be the millionth time. Yuri himself voiced this same concern regularly enough—and that, Victor felt, was his biggest problem at the moment.</p><p>“Here’s my thing, Chris,” Victor announced, changing tacks. “Why would you bring your doubts up in front of Yuri? It’s taken weeks to get him comfortable being here and taking up my time, living in my house, eating my food...all of it. Every little thing. He talks a good game, but he’s nowhere near as comfortable as I wish he could be, yet. And it’s going to take weeks for him to get over that one comment from you—at least functionally. For all I know, it may never go away…” </p><p>Victor broke off, surprising himself. He hadn’t meant to acknowledge the reality of his partner’s condition aloud. </p><p>Chris shook his head again, keeping his eyes on Victor. “Aren’t you tired of having to convince him he deserves to be there, that you want him there? There’s a toll on you with that kind of thing.”</p><p>“No,” Victor said flatly. “I’ll give him whatever he needs.”</p><p>“Right,” said Chris. “You’re a bottomless well of strength, energy, courage, patience, resolve…”</p><p>“I would like to point out,” Victor chimed in, “that Yuri gives me all of those things right back in spades.”</p><p>“Of course,” Chris said. “It’s just…”</p><p>Victor tilted his head, peering at Chris. He was used to exercising patience in his conversations with Yuri, but he wasn’t used to Chris being unsure of what to say or how to say it. But Victor was practiced. He kept his face neutral, his eyes patient, his body relaxed, his mind curious.</p><p>“I’ve seen how you get,” Chris said quietly, “in relationships.”</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>Chris sighed. “I don’t think you mean to do it, but you jump in very hard and very fast. At times...blindly.”</p><p>“That has been true,” Victor admitted. “But I’ve never been with someone as long as I’ve been with Yuri. I’ve never felt this way about someone before.”</p><p>“I know,” Chris said carefully. “And I don’t think you would use someone to shock people and stay relevant—“</p><p>“Good God, Chris!”</p><p>“—but you have been known to act before thinking, and you’ve never had to consider another person’s feelings…”</p><p>Victor shook his head, knowing he should be trying to absorb Chris’s words and take them seriously, but wanting to nullify them with everything he had. He pushed down the notion that Chris was probably jealous—if not of the relationship part, then certainly of the coaching part. Victor would, at least, not start a squabble over that. </p><p>Chris took a deep breath and sighed, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. “You can handle a breakup, Victor. Yuri cannot.”</p><p>It was true about Yuri, but if Chris thought Victor could handle a breakup with Yuri better than Yuri himself, then Victor wondered what he’d missed in explaining his relationship with Yuri to his longtime friend and rival. Chris had hung out with the couple plenty. He saw how happy they made each other, how they inspired each other, how hard they worked, and how much they’d grown together. Did Victor have to lay it all out in a drawn-out, sappy explanation? He was happy to do so if it meant Chris would understand and stop poking holes, especially with the anxiety goblin Yuri Katsuki sitting right there.</p><p>“I am not toying with Yuri for fun,” Victor said, making the idea sound utterly preposterous by saying it aloud so directly. “I didn’t start coaching and courting Yuri because I was bored. I am not using Yuri to surprise my fans or stay relevant.”</p><p>“The people love an underdog,” Chris pointed out in the tone of a conniving showman with an exaggerated shrug.</p><p>“This is true,” Victor admitted mock-conspiratorially. “Yuri and I have made a delicious story. But, as my oldest friend, I do need you of all people to understand.”</p><p>“I’ll do my best,” Chris offered. </p><p>“Do better than that,” Victor countered. “Would a story help?”</p><p>“I make no promises,” Chris said, taking a sip of tea. “But please…” He gestured for Victor to proceed.</p><p>“As you know, after World’s last year, I was dead but for my yearning.”</p><p>“Ooh!” Chris, cooed, resting his chin in his hand. “‘Dead but for my yearning…’”</p><p>“That’s what I said,” Victor replied primly. “The video of Yuri could not have come at a more perfect moment. I don’t know what I would have done. I’ve never been without a plan or without some thread of inspiration to cling to. I’ve despaired before, I’ve felt empty before, but never like that.”</p><p>Chris blinked his long lashes and listened.</p><p>“When I first saw the video, I wasn’t even happy about it,” Victor admitted, chuckling a bit. “Honestly, it angered me.”</p><p>Chris’s green eyes widened behind his glasses in surprise. “Really?”</p><p>“Yes. I was on the couch, zoning out on my phone, only Makkachin to comfort me. A fifth World Championship gold medal hung on my wall, identical to the others. In that moment I had given up. Not in any grand sense, yet, but…I don’t know if you’ve ever felt truly depressed, but in the moment there’s just...nothing.”</p><p>Chris nodded.</p><p>“Anyway, I want to believe I had, by that point, forsaken the idea of ever reconnecting with Yuri Katsuki. I had gone through a long phase of stalking his friends’ accounts since he never posted, but at that point I had stopped myself even doing that. It wasn’t healthy.”</p><p>“I recall.”</p><p>“Yes. So, my mind had given up and ignored the part of my heart that still desperately wanted to hear from him. I silenced my heart with the reminder of the multiple times he shunned me after the banquet in Sochi. I replayed those moments over and over in my head to quiet the longing.”</p><p>Victor took a deep breath. “That video. I just couldn’t believe it—after all that agonizing silence; the long lonely nights wondering about him, dissecting every aspect of our few interactions; the free skate routine that had turned from being about wanting love in my life to literally being a call to him every time I performed it. The routine couldn’t help but become that. He consumed me, and I barely even knew him. It was madness.”</p><p>The look on Chris’s face was sympathetic. Victor continued.</p><p>“And I knew I was fixating on someone because I was lonely and empty and directionless. It makes sense. But when I tried to forget about him, I went blank. It was either infatuation or nothing.”</p><p>Chris nodded patiently.</p><p>“So I was angry,” Victor said quietly. “About all of it.”</p><p>“All of it?” Chris asked.</p><p>“He begged me to coach him. He invited me to his family home. He showed me more fun in one night than I think I’ve ever had, honestly. He enchanted me, he planted the most enticing seed, and then? He ghosted.</p><p>“It had only been a few months since we’d danced, but it felt like an agonizing eternity. And after all that time of waiting to hear anything, of looking for any trace of him, and worrying about him after he bombed Japanese Nationals, and finally starting to give up, he calls out to me in absolutely the most potent way possible. There he was, out of the blue, performing that song and that routine. You know what it’s about. He might as well have stood outside my house with a boombox over his head. It was like he was telling me I was not only still invited, but I was overdue.”</p><p>“I assume that’s why you were angry?” Chris asked. “The ghosting, the pain of that, and the sudden reversal?”</p><p>“That would be enough, wouldn’t it?” Victor said dryly. “But no. No, what really angered me was that all of that passion, skill, beauty, and drive was waiting in some secret corner of the world, alone and unseen. Why was he hiding? Not only did he not even post the video—he didn’t even know he was being recorded! While he performed my most challenging routine to date without even being in top form. Start to finish—flawless, gorgeous—just downgrading the quads to triples. And it was just...a thing he was doing. Not for attention or accolades, just…”</p><p>Victor broke off, shaking his head. “Somehow, this ridiculously sexy and talented man who broke my heart thought it was fine to be that good and keep it his cozy little secret. If it weren’t for the triplets posting the video, it would all still be a secret.”</p><p>“And you couldn’t let that happen.”</p><p>“No,” Victor said, laughing a little. “He’s so selfish,” the Russian mused, staring absently at Yuri’s side of the bed.</p><p>“You say that with hearts in your eyes,” Chris observed. “So it really wasn’t such a shocking move...”</p><p>“I wanted to go to him in Japan after World’s ever since the GPF banquet. I just couldn’t justify committing to that plan for obvious reasons...until the video.”</p><p>“That does fill in some blanks,” Chris said. </p><p>“It somehow never occurred to me that Yuri didn’t remember the banquet night,” Victor added with somber embarrassment, but he perked up at a sudden thought. “Yuri finally agreed to look at the photos and videos. He was mortified—it was adorable—but at least he knows I’m not a creep now for coming on so strong last spring.”</p><p>“I still can’t believe that,” Chris said, catching the merriment. “I can just picture it. You peacocking at a terrified virgin who has no idea the lengths he went to seduce you or that he’s even capable of it.” Chris wiped his eye theatrically. “I just...I just can’t.”</p><p>“Well,” Victor said, “I’m glad it’s starting to feel more like a comedy of errors than a series of very uncomfortable misunderstandings.”</p><p>“You’re too much, Victor,” Chris purred. “Just...too much…” Chris’s voice trailed off as he seemed to lose himself in a daydream, most likely featuring the play-by-plays Victor had recounted to him of the Russian’s first days in Hasetsu. “Anyway!” Chris announced as he snapped himself out of his reverie. “I give it a year.”</p><p>“Stooooop!” Victor whined loudly. “What on earth can I say? That will make you be nice to us?” Victor pouted and groped at the camera as he would grope needingly at Chris’s arm in person after a drink or two.</p><p>“I love you and support you both,” Chris said, hand over his heart, “which is why we’re having this conversation. I’m simply concerned.”</p><p>“About?”</p><p>“Yuri.”</p><p>The two men stared at each other. Victor broke the silence, “I thought you were concerned about me??”</p><p>Chris laughed. “Okay, yes. But what I mean now is something you’re already used to: the pressure. But Yuri...between coaching, living together, competing together, being in the public eye, planning to get married, constant criticism from the media and the RSU because of him—“</p><p>“Because of my decisions,” Victor corrected.</p><p>“Your decisions because of him,” Chris said emphatically. “You’re both sensitive souls, but he’s never had to deal with this much pressure, and from every angle...”</p><p>“Actually,” Victor chimed in, “this is new for me too. I’ve never pulled a move like last year.”</p><p>“But you’re better equipped to handle it.”</p><p>“We’ll see,” Victor said, tilting his head and smiling at his friend, who gazed back at him a bit hopelessly.</p><p>“Just take care of each other, please,” Chris said kindly. Victor was glad that Chris had sensed it was time to wrap up as he felt the tug of Yuri in the other room.</p><p>“That’s the idea, isn’t it?” Victor replied. “Hey—worry about your skating this week instead of trying to warn my fiancé that I’m a monster, okay?”</p><p>Chris laughed. “Noted. Be good.”</p><p>“Byyyee~”</p><p>-</p><p>They hung up and Victor hurried back out to Yuri, who had done dishes and was curled up under a blanket on the couch with Makkachin. Yuri followed Victor with his eyes as he entered the room, but didn’t sit up.</p><p>“It’s fine,” Victor said. “I think Chris just needs to be reminded before he competes to stop being so obsessed with me.”</p><p>Victor paused theatrically for Yuri to laugh, but Yuri gave him no such satisfaction.</p><p>“He’s just echoing what everyone else thinks,” Yuri said. “But unlike everyone else, he’s on the inside and can get a more authentic take.”</p><p>“Yuri…”</p><p>Yuri closed his eyes and was quiet. His mind was at war and it wasn’t clear how to bring the Victor standing in front of him into the fray, or what role he would play once there.</p><p>“What can I do?” Victor asked, sitting in the crook of Yuri’s belly and rubbing Yuri’s back.</p><p>“Nothing,” Yuri said, sitting up and staring at his knees.</p><p>Victor reached up a hand to touch Yuri’s hair, brushing it off his brow and behind his ears. “I’m sorry about that,” he said softly.</p><p>Yuri shook his head and said nothing. Victor’s presence felt good, but he didn’t want to need comfort. He wanted to take the attention off himself, but his mind was reeling and there was nothing he felt comfortable saying.</p><p>Victor wrapped his arms around Yuri’s torso and leaned back on the couch, bringing Yuri to rest against him. Yuri longed for his pain to evaporate so he could better enjoy the feeling of being enveloped by the larger man.</p><p>Yuri opted for the shortest path to the finish. “You’re not using me, right?” He asked, admittedly relieved by how ridiculous it sounded when said out loud between them.</p><p>“I’m definitely using you,” Victor said, nuzzling against Yuri’s ear, “for my own devious purposes.”</p><p>Yuri’s face tightened into a strained smile and he was glad Victor couldn’t see his face, as his eyes were watering a bit. “And is everything going according to plan?” He asked a bit villainously.</p><p>“It has been, lately, yes…” Victor answered. Yuri felt Victor smiling into his hair. “And unless I’m mistaken, you’re using me too.”</p><p>“Of course,” Yuri said matter-of-factly. “I’d be a fool not to.”</p><p>“Not necessarily,” Victor said. “I have much to offer, yes, but the price is high.”</p><p>Yuri forgot his pride and turned to look at his partner, narrowing his eyes at him in suspicion.</p><p>“Constant scrutiny,” Victor answered gravely.</p><p>“Ah, yes,” Yuri said, turning away. Insecurities aside, in the ten months he and Victor had been inseparable, Yuri knew Victor understood just how private a person Yuri was. Yuri took pictures, but never posted them. He spoke freely to his family, the Nishigori family, Minako-sensei, Phichit, and Victor himself, but hardly anyone else. He actively avoided crowds and reporters and media. He was not the sort of person that anyone thought could handle being Victor’s pupil, romantic partner, and reason for leaving the ice, which made the attention all the more unwelcome as it tended to lean negative.</p><p>“It’s no small thing,” Victor said, reaching out to turn Yuri’s chin so he could look into those wide brown eyes. “Thank you.”</p><p>Yuri once again didn’t know what to say. Victor’s face was so close to his and all he could do was rest his brow against his lover’s, closing his eyes and taking in the scent of him for a quiet moment. </p><p>Satisfied, he pulled away, but clutched the chest of Victor’s shirt in two fists and raised his lips to brush against Victor’s. Victor’s exhaled sharply and leaned in, closing the gap.</p><p>Kissing wasn’t as hard as Yuri had feared, and he had been starting to take the lead little by little. This time was no exception. Yuri relished in Victor’s amazement and the depth of Victor’s desire when Yuri took charge. Yuri guided the direction of Victor’s mouth with his own, clutching Victor’s neck possessively with one hand, tracing Victor’s swaying body with the other. Victor’s breath had quickened into something deep and ragged, and he took hold of Yuri and turned his smaller body beneath him, pinning him in place with his pelvis, devouring him with his eyes. Yuri looked up at Victor in that way he knew drove the man crazy. </p><p>Victor began kissing Yuri’s neck in earnest, reaching up his sweatshirt to grasp at his bare skin. “What would you like to do, Yuri?” He purred. </p><p>“Go skating,” Yuri said.</p><p>Victor sat up and stared at Yuri, who couldn’t suppress a laugh. </p><p>“Monster,” Victor said as he continued his quest to undress them both.</p>
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